Paul Revere and the Stories He Overshadowed

Paul Revere has shown up quite a bit in our historical adventures recently. For our Valentine’s Day excursion, we visited the Concord Museum and saw their latest exhibition, “Beyond Midnight: Paul Revere and His Ride,” and last week, we decided to go to the Paul Revere House (Jacques had never been before, and I hadn’t visited in quite some time).

When I was in elementary school, I frequently checked out a pop-up edition of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” with illustrations by Christopher Bing at my local library. At one time, I had the entire poem memorized. The “One if by land, and two is by sea” narrative entranced me, and I got caught up in the romanticism. I have been obsessed with history for as long as I can remember, so naturally, in the years that followed, I became a historian. It certainly helped that Christopher Bing’s edition included primary sources, likely furthering my obsession with delving into the lives of people gone by as I grew up, and preparing me for conducting my own primary source research.

Paul Revere has been immortalized in American history—from midnight rider, to artist and renowned silversmith, merely uttering the name tends to spark thoughts of the ideal “Revolutionary Patriot.” This is not to say he did not play a significant role in the colonies’ fight for independence from Britain, but it is important to note that in some cases, Revere’s “accomplishments” were not truly his own. In fact, the true stories, at least in my eyes, are a whole lot more interesting than the mythology.

“The Bloody Massacre” Vs.“The FRuits of Arbitrary Power”

It was the 250th anniversary of the Boston Massacre on March 5, 2020 (of which I have a separate blog post dedicated to coming up), and on every anniversary (but particularity this milestone year), I tend to see the famous “Bloody massacre” engraving many times. It’s the staple image associated with the event, but many do not know that the artwork was not truly Revere’s.

Paul Revere’s “The Bloody Massacre in King-Street, March 5, 1770.”

Paul Revere’s “The Bloody Massacre in King-Street, March 5, 1770.”

Henry Pelham’s original artwork, “The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or The Bloody Massacre,” which Revere plagiarized.

Henry Pelham’s original artwork, “The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or The Bloody Massacre,” which Revere plagiarized.

Meet Henry Pelham: painter, engraver, cartographer, half-brother of famous 18th century portraitist John Singleton Copley, and friend (at least until late March, 1770) of Paul Revere. After the events that would become known as the “Boston Massacre,” Pelham created an artistic depiction with the title “The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or The Bloody Massacre.” He showed the art to Revere, and sometime after, Revere published a remarkably similar piece entitled “The Bloody Massacre in King-Street, March 5, 1770.” He did not credit Pelham, nor did Pelham receive payment for his art. When Pelham found out, he sent the following letter to Revere:

Thursday Morng. Boston, March 29, 1770.

Sir,

When I heard that you were cutting a plate of the late Murder, I thought it impossible, as I knew you was not capable of doing it unless you coppied it from mine and as I thought I had entrusted it in the hands of a person who had more regard to the dictates of Honour and Justice than to take the undue advantage you have done of the confidence and Trust I reposed in you.

But I find I was mistaken, and after being at the great Trouble and Expence of making a design paying for paper, printing &c, find myself in the most ungenerous Manner deprived, not only of any proposed Advantage, but even of the expence I have been at, as truly as if you had plundered me on the highway.

If you are insensible of the Dishonour you have brought on yourself by this Act, the World will not be so. However, I leave you to reflect upon and consider of one of the most dishonorable Actions you could well be guilty of.

H. Pelham.

P.S. I send by the Bearer the prints I borrowed of you. My Mother desired you would send the hinges and part of the press, that you had from her.

I do not know of any contact between Pelham and Revere after this incident, but it should be stated that I, too, would unfriend someone for stealing my art, and unfortunately in the 18th century, there wasn’t really much Pelham could do to protect his intellectual property.

“The Midnight Ride”


In 1860, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited the Old North Church in Boston’s north end, and shortly after, penned the poem many are familiar with. Because Longfellow’s version of the events was written 85 years after the real-life “midnight ride,” it was crafted for a different type of audience. The children Longfellow speaks to in the opening lines of his retelling are ones living on the verge of a civil war—a patriotic hero fighting for justice and liberty was just the type these children wanted to hear about. But this new version of the story came at the expense of historical fact. In many ways, Longfellow’s work says more about the 1860s than it does the 1770s.

Though the foundation of Longfellow’s poem is based in truth, it diverges rather quickly.

Though Longfellow depicts Revere as acting almost entirely alone aside from his “friend” in the belfry of the North Church, in actuality, he was a part of a large operation consisting of many people. The “friend” in the belfry was in fact two men—the church’s sexton, Robert Newman, and vestryman, Captain John Pulling Jr. It would have been difficult, neigh impossible, to climb to the bell-tower alone holding two lanterns.

That morning, Revere met with prominent Boston patriot Dr. Joseph Warren and was given a mission to ride to Lexington and warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that they were in danger of being arrested. He was also given intelligence that British militia were planning to march to Concord, likely in order to seize military supplies. Warren enlisted the help of both Revere and William Dawes to accomplish this portion of the mission.

As Revere set off on his mission heading North, he borrowed a horse named “Brown Beauty” from his friend John Larkin (who had borrowed it from his father, Samuel Larkin). Dawes headed south, and the two met in Lexington together in order to warn Adams and Hancock.

After succeeding in reaching Adams and Hancock, the two continued on toward Concord, where they ran into Dr. Samuel Prescott, a known ally. It was around one in the morning, and Prescott had just left the home of his fiancée, Lydia Mulliken. Deciding to join Revere and Dawes, the three men rode on.

After a while, they were intercepted by British patrol, and while Dawes and Prescott escaped, Revere was detained. Eventually Revere was let go, the horse that he had borrowed was seized by the patrol, and he walked back to Lexington.

Meanwhile, Dawes, knowing his horse was too tired to outrun the officers, created a diversion in order for Prescott to escape and relay the information to Concord. Prescott jumped a stone wall, arrived in Concord, and succeeded in the mission he had stumbled upon after a night of courting.

In the end “the midnight ride” was accomplished through the work of many, though Revere receives all the credit.